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When travellers ask AI where to stay in Barcelona, one in five of the city's registered hotels will never come up. Not in any answer, in any language. That's the headline finding of a [new study](stiplo.io/barcelona-study) that asked the four leading AI assistants the questions real travellers ask, more than 27,000 times, to map exactly which hotels the machines recommend, which they ignore, and why.
Article image #4
*Carlo Del Mistro, founder of London based Stiplo — a digital mystery shopper for hotels.*
The research comes from [Carlo Del Mistro](www.linkedin.com/in/carlo-del-mistro/), former Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore (the hospitality group behind brands including The Hoxton and Mondrian) and now Founder of London based [Stiplo](stiplo.io), a start-up that acts as a digital mystery shopper for hotels.
A regular at our [London Travel Massive](www.travelmassive.com/posts/london-travel-massive-979884824) events, and a previous speaker, I sat down with Carlo to unpack what he found: why a perfectly rated guesthouse can be invisible to AI while a middling chain hotel is recommended hundreds of times, why a third of AI's suggestions never touch the live web at all, and what hotels can actually do about it.
Why Barcelona, and why ask 27,000 times
Matthew: You asked AI assistants the same hotel questions real travellers ask over 27,000 times. What lead you to doing this kind of stress test? And what made you start with Barcelona?
Carlo: Over the last couple of years I have watched the question of what drives hotel AI visibility go from niche to one of the hottest topics in travel. There is a lot of good research on who is visible. What I could not find was proper scientific research on what actually drives that visibility. That gap is why we ran the study.
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*The [Stiplo Barcelona Study](stiplo.io/barcelona-study) measured 659 registered properties across 27,360 AI travel answers.*
I wanted a closed context. Rather than sample loosely, we took a single city, looked at its entire hotel universe, and asked it the full range of questions real travellers ask. We seeded those from databases of real ChatGPT queries, so we were testing what people genuinely type, not what we imagined they would.
We asked more than a hundred questions, across four AI engines, in three languages, and we asked each one twenty times. That last part matters. Ask an AI the same question twice and you get different answers, so a single pass tells you little. We stopped seeing new hotels appear after about eighteen passes, so twenty gave us a stable picture.
As for why Barcelona. It is a wonderful city for tourists, which appealed to me. but more importantly, it is trilingual. A hotel there is expected to have content and to rank in Spanish, Catalan and English, and that made it a uniquely revealing place to start.
The one in five that AI never sees
Matthew: Let's start with the number that stopped me: one in five registered hotels in Barcelona is completely invisible to AI - never recommended once, in any language, by any assistant. Were you expecting that?
Carlo: It was one of the findings that stopped me too. I had seen plenty of numbers thrown around on AI visibility, but most studies ask only a handful of variations of each question. When you ask 27,000 questions, you see the full picture, and it is stark.
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*The study discovered that one in five hotels in Barcelona are completely invisible on AI search.*
One in five hotels in Barcelona is completely invisible. Never recommended once, in any language, by any engine. I was not expecting that. If anything I expected something closer to ninety or ninety-five per cent of hotels showing up somewhere.
What is just as striking is the concentration. Around twenty per cent of hotels capture more than eighty per cent of all the mentions, and then there is a very long tail. The top twenty hotels are named on average more than a thousand times each. The bottom half of the hotels that are visible at all are named roughly 10 times, and the long tail just once or twice. So once you fall out of that top group, you do not just slip down the list. You effectively disappear.
What actually moves the needle, and what's just noise
Matthew: You tested the tactics that dominate the 'generative engine optimisation' conversation. Which ones held up, and which didn't?
Carlo: This is where the study became genuinely exciting. It is one thing to see which hotels are visible. It is another to work out why. We matched the hotels the AI favours against everything we could measure about them, then used several statistical techniques to separate the signal from the noise.
What came out was clear. Four things genuinely drive visibility, and four things the industry talks about constantly turn out to do very little.
The single strongest driver, by a distance, was the number of Google reviews a hotel has. Stronger than anything technical, stronger even than how authoritative the website is. After that: who links to you from around the web, then whether you already rank in Google's own results, which the AI leans on, and finally just having pages a machine can actually read that answer real guest questions. On that last one the twist is that having the content matters far more than how much of it there is.
And the four things the industry sells hardest did almost nothing.
* An llms.txt file, the tactic of the moment: nothing.
* Opening or closing your site to the AI crawlers: no measurable difference to whether you get named.
* FAQ and schema markup: no independent effect.
* Freshness and page-speed tuning: nothing once you account for the fact that big professional sites are simply fast to begin with.
The uncomfortable takeaway is that the technical GEO checklist being sold right now, llms.txt, bot rules, schema, freshness, is measurably not what moves the needle. Reputation and readable content are.
The new gatekeepers: listicles and Reddit
Matthew: When AI recommends a hotel, you traced where it's actually getting its information. Barely any of it comes from the hotels themselves or official tourism boards. Over three-quarters comes from guides and listicles. Who are these new gatekeepers, and should we trust them?
Carlo: It is fascinating to trace. When you ask an AI a question it does two things: it runs its own internet search, usually leaning on Google, and it draws on what it was trained on months or years earlier. It blends the two. What is striking is how little of the final answer comes from the hotels themselves. More than two-thirds of it, about 68 per cent, is assembled from guides and listicles. Only around 7 per cent comes from the hotels' own sites, and under 2 per cent from official tourism boards.
And they are not the gatekeepers you'd hope for. The listicles doing the work are mostly local SEO guide sites, barcelona.com, thehotelguru, foreverbarcelona, not the New York Times or Condé Nast.
The source the models trust most is Reddit. It only appears in about one in eight ai web searches, so it is not the most common source. But when it does appear, the model actually cites it as a source about two-thirds of the time, a higher rate than any OTA or guide. So a machine is now assembling your reputation partly from commercial guide sites and partly from Reddit threads, and most hotels have no idea those are the pages deciding whether they get recommended.
When AI still sells the hotel you used to be
Matthew: The Grand Hyatt was recommended under its old name, Hotel Sofia, over 200 times in your data. Hotels spend millions on rebrands. Your data suggests AI can keep selling the old identity for years afterwards. Is there anything a hotel can actually do to update a machine's memory?
Carlo: What the Grand Hyatt shows is how long it takes an AI to catch up with reality. We forget that these models are trained months, sometimes years, in advance, and then they carry a fixed cut-off. The hotel changed its name from the Hotel Sofia, but in the model's memory it is still the Sofia, and it keeps recommending it that way.
Blocking AI crawlers can't help here either. It won't stop the model recommending you from memory, and it does shut the door on the systems that might otherwise pick up your new identity. To be clear, opening the crawlers won't get you recommended more, that isn't what drives visibility, but it's what lets the model read the new reality when it does look.
The encouraging part is that much of this is in the hotel's hands. When you rebrand, or move information around your site, the priority is to stay readable to AI. Let the inference bots in, and make sure your schema and metadata reflect the new reality. The Grand Hyatt is a vivid example because it is such a prominent property, but I see the same thing constantly on hotels nobody would notice.
Why the machines skew to the top end
Matthew: I thought it was fascinating that four-star-plus hotels are about a third of Barcelona's register but take over three-quarters of AI's recommendations. Meanwhile nearly half of the budget properties never appear at all. Why does AI skew so hard toward the top end?
Carlo: There are a few reasons the upper end pulls so far ahead. First, resourcing. Four-star-plus hotels are more likely to be part of a chain, with real teams behind the website and the online presence, so they tick the boxes AI visibility rewards. Second, coverage. They are the hotels the guides and listicles tend to write about, and that third-party content is exactly what the AI leans on. Third, they simply produce more of their own content, where a smaller hotel rarely has anyone whose job that is.
But the more encouraging story is at the other end.
Some of the smaller three-star and budget hotels punch well above their weight, and they do it by owning a niche.
We had hostels that were close to invisible for general questions. Ask about a backpacking trip or a weekend away with friends, though, and those same hostels were consistently in the top 10. We saw the same for football trips, people heading to the stadium for a match. If you truly own a category, it does not matter whether you have five stars or none. You win the questions that matter to you.
A third of answers come from memory, not the web
Matthew: Roughly a third of recommendations come from the model's memory, not from searching the live web. What does that mean for a hotel that redesigns its website today?
Carlo: It means patience, and it means keeping the door open. If roughly a third of recommendations come from the model's memory rather than a live search, then the beautiful new website you launch today is invisible to that third until the models retrain. A redesign is not a switch you flip. What you can do is make sure that when the AI does look, and when it does retrain, it can actually read you. Keep the site crawlable, keep the structured data accurate, and treat visibility as something you earn over months, not overnight.
Winning the mention, losing the booking
Matthew: Say a hotel does win the recommendation. You found that even then, the AI usually doesn't send the traveller to the hotel's own site. Where does the booking actually go?
Carlo: This, for me, is the finding that matters most commercially, and it is the one hoteliers least expect. Getting recommended and getting booked turn out to be two completely different games.
When an AI names a hotel, it links through to that hotel's own website only about seven per cent of the time. More than nine times out of ten, the traveller is pointed somewhere else. The click lands, in order, on a local "best hotels in Barcelona" listicle first, then on an online travel agency, booking.com most often, with TripAdvisor acting as the review gateway.
A hotel can win the recommendation and still lose the booking, and with it the margin, to an intermediary.
I think of it as two separate battles. The first is being found: getting named when a traveller asks. The second is being chosen and keeping the guest on your website for the booking once you are named. Most of the industry conversation is stuck on the first, on visibility. But you can be perfectly visible and still watch the AI hand your guest to an OTA. Winning the mention is only half the job. The other half is making sure that when you are mentioned, the path actually leads back to you.
It answers in Catalan, but it searches in English
Matthew: You caught ChatGPT searching in English even when the traveller asks in Catalan. What should local hoteliers in Barcelona take from that?
Carlo: This was one of the results I least expected. I did not think ChatGPT would be doing its actual searching in English. This is a ChatGPT trait specifically. Ask ChatGPT in Catalan and roughly four in five of its underlying searches ran in English, with Catalan almost abandoned. Even in Spanish it searched in English about 60% of the time. It answers you in your language, but it goes looking in English. Perplexity, by contrast, tends to search in the language you asked in.
The lesson for a local hotelier is uncomfortable but simple. Your English content is not optional, even if your guests are local. You could have beautiful Catalan content and still be invisible, simply because the engine went looking in English and did not find you. This almost certainly holds for a lot of smaller languages, and it is one of the reasons we chose a trilingual city for the first study.
If you do one thing this quarter: Google reviews
Matthew: If a hotel owner reading this can only do one thing this quarter, what does your data say it should be?
Carlo: When we cut through everything, the single biggest driver of visibility was the number of Google reviews. Not OTA reviews, not TripAdvisor. Google.
So if a hotel owner does just one thing this quarter, they should look hard at where they send guests to leave a review. If you are pointing them to TripAdvisor or an OTA, you are handing that signal away. Redirect it to Google. And here is the part people find surprising. The quantity of reviews matters more than the score itself. Of course you want good reviews, but the sheer number counts for more than most people think.
— Thanks Carlo, for sharing your insights!
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*Download your free copy of The Stiplo Barcelona Study.*
*[Carlo Del Mistro](www.linkedin.com/in/carlo-del-mistro/) is the founder of Stiplo, a digital mystery shopper for hotels, and former Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore. [Download the full study](stiplo.io/barcelona-study) covering all 659 of Barcelona’s registered tourist accommodations, across four AI assistants and three languages including the complete methodology, engine-by-engine findings and what hotels should do next.*
*[Matthew Gardiner](/@matthewgardiner) Is the Director of [Travel Massive London](www.travelmassive.com/posts/london-travel-massive-979884824), a fractional marketing leader and growth partner to travel brands and destinations.*
Hi everyone, I'm Erica, co-founder of doozi! My best friend & I have been building doozi for the past year, and we are based in Ottawa (but spend a fair amount of time in Toronto).
Doozi has 30k videos, and over 4k businesses posted/tagged already in Toronto alone. We created this app to solve our own problem; Tiktok & Instagram aren't optimized for travel discovery. Tripadvisor is outdated and not honest.
Doozi is for 3 kinds of people:
🏨 Business owners: we help businesses in the hospitality get discovered by sending local creators to them to make content
🤳 Creators: we give them opportunities to monetize their content
👋 Travellers/locals: we don't run ads, or allow businesses to pay for priority placement. Authentic video reviews you can trust; see the businesses that are the best, not the one's with the deepest pockets.
Would love your feedback on the app and would also love to connect with more folks in the travel space. :)
👉 Learn more at doozi.app and follow our journey at instagram.com/doozigirls
- Erica
-
Here's a short intro video from me and my co-founder Jillian:
youtube.com/watch?v=2QExQVmXIl4
Thanks to leading travel creators, founders and industry partners who joined London Travel Massive at our [Creators Summer Social](www.travelmassive.com/events/london-creators-summer-social-timewalk-exhibition-vip-preview-with-stay22-and-visit-cascais-1082597855) with Stay22 and Visit Cascais.
The event started with welcome drinks overlooking London's Royal Docks aboard the iconic [Sunborn London](www.instagram.com/sunbornlondon/) before guests enjoyed an exclusive VIP preview of [TIMEWALK](timewalkexhibition.com/london/) at [Immerse LDN](immerseldn.com) ahead of the attraction opening to the public the next day.
#Thanks to our partners, Stay22 and Visit Cascais
Hosted in partnership with [Stay22](tmsv.co/stay22) and [Visit Cascais](www.visitcascais.com), the evening celebrated the power of community, collaboration and in-person connection across the travel creator economy.
Our members were among the first to experience TIMEWALK's extraordinary multi-sensory journey through 12,000 years of human history. Created by the award-winning team at [DEM Museums](www.demmuseums.com/en/projects/detail/timewalk-exhibition), the experience transports visitors through some of the world's greatest ancient civilisations including Göbeklitepe, Babylon, Ancient Egypt, the Maya and Rapa Nui using cinematic storytelling, breathtaking visuals, immersive sound and cutting-edge technology to bring history vividly to life.
#Travel Creator Economy Report Findings
The event also provided the opportunity to share headline insights from the [Travel Creator Economy Report](www.travelmassive.com/stay22/creators-2026-report), produced by Travel Massive in partnership with Stay22. Among the report's most striking findings was a reminder that, despite the industry's digital-first nature, relationships continue to be built face-to-face.
Our research found that 77% of travel brands discover creators through in-person events, reinforcing the enduring value of industry gatherings and genuine human connection.
While social media may open doors, it is still conversations, introductions and handshakes that create lasting commercial partnerships, making events like the London Creators Summer Social more important than ever.
#Special Thanks
Travel Massive extends its thanks to everyone who joined and contributed to such a vibrant evening and to all the partners who made the event possible. Special thanks go to Francisco Ventura FIH, Catt McLeod FIH, FHOSPA, Maddi Howell, Maria Stoyanova, Alona Fogel and Ensar Bozkurt for their support, and to photographer [Paul K Porter](www.travelmassive.com/@paulkporter) for capturing the occasion.
— We look forward to seeing you at our next London Travel Massive event!
*Want to be part of events like this? Join the [London Travel Massive](www.travelmassive.com/posts/london-travel-massive-979884824) community to stay updated on upcoming events — and reach out if you’d like to get involved or support a future event.*
It was such a fun evening!!
I've spent my career in travel (previously at TripAdvisor, lastminute.com and Amadeus), and one problem never went away. The most authentic multi-day tours, the ones run by local operators who genuinely know their destination, are almost impossible to find and book through the big platforms. A huge share of multi-day tours still lives offline, in PDFs, brochures and long email threads. The operators are brilliant. The distributors want fresh, differentiated product. And yet the two sides rarely meet, because the plumbing that would carry that product to the world simply doesn't exist.
That's why we built Travecta.
We're the technical infrastructure layer that connects local tour operators with global distribution partners like airlines, online travel agencies, tour operators and cruise companies. Our AI takes the messy, offline content operators already have and turns it into structured, bookable, machine-readable inventory, then distributes it through a single connection. What Stripe did for payments, we're doing for multi-day tours.
We're deliberately not an OTA, not a marketplace, and not a discovery platform. We never own the customer and we never touch the margin. That matters for both sides of this community.
If you're a DMC or local operator, it means you stay in control. You own the product, you set your net rate, you deliver the tour, and your relationships stay yours. Onboarding is as hands-on or as automated as you like, from a simple manual upload in your supplier dashboard to full API, MCP or XML. In most cases we go from PDF to bookable in days, not months. You keep doing what you do best, and we make you bookable everywhere your future guests already are.
If you're a distributor, it means access to real, verified, multi-day supply that sits outside almost every existing distribution system, delivered in a clean, structured, connectable format. No scraping, no chasing PDFs, no reformatting. Every operator is vetted by our team, human to human, so the trust layer is there before you ever load a tour. One connection, and a whole category of product opens up to your customers.
We're early, and that's the fun part. 400+ operators are onboarding across 40+ destinations on five continents, and our distribution beta is open by invitation. Every week we learn something new from the operators and distributors we work with, and the product gets sharper because of it.
So here's my ask to the room, both sides of it.
• If you run tours, get in touch and let's onboard your product as supply. I'll personally make sure you're looked after.
• If you move distribution, reach out and I'll get you access to the beta so you can see the supply for yourself.
This industry only ever works when the new things and the old things stay connected. That's exactly what we're building at Travecta, and I'd love for this community to help shape it. Come find me.
👉 Learn more at travecta.tech and please share your comments and feedback!
The finalists are in. Five early-stage startups from Singapore, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam will take the stage at the [Travel Massive Asia Conference](www.travelmassive.com/events/travel-massive-asia-conference-2026-da-nang-3982452889) in Da Nang on August 21 to pitch to a live audience and judging panel in our travel startup pitch competition.
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Each startup will present to an international panel of judges, including [Mandy Nguyen](www.linkedin.com/in/mandynguyensvf/) (Startup Vietnam Foundation), [Hannah Pearson](www.travelmassive.com/@hannah) (Pear Anderson), [Keith Van](www.travelmassive.com/@keith-van) (seats.aero), and [Hao Tran](www.travelmassive.com/@hao-tran) (Vietcetera). The panel will pick a winner based on business model, size of the addressable market in Vietnam and Asia, customer happiness, sustainability, and potential to disrupt the tourism and hospitality industry for good. Every finalist walks away with direct feedback from the judges.
The competition is moderated by [Ric Gazarian](www.travelmassive.com/@global_gaz) (Extraordinary Travel Festival) and is proudly presented by our conference sponsors, including Airwallex, Stay22, In Marketing We Trust, Heads on Pillows, and [Travel Trends Podcast](www.traveltrendspodcast.com). The winning startup takes home two passes to [FutureTravel Summit](futuretravel.com/summit) in Barcelona, Europe's most prestigious travel startup event.
Finalists will also demo at the Travel Massive Startups booth at [HorecFex](horecfex.com/en/) (20–21 August), Vietnam's premier technology event for the tourism and hospitality industry, which hosts Travel Massive Asia Conference on the 21st. With over 4,000 attendees and 80 exhibitor booths expected, there's still [space for you to join](www.travelmassive.com/events/travel-massive-asia-conference-2026-da-nang-3982452889).
Now, let's meet the finalists heading to Da Nang!
Why Ventures (Singapore) — Christine Ng
Article image #square-2
[Why Ventures](whyventures.co) is an experiential learning and transformation platform that turns travel into a launchpad for entrepreneurship. Their flagship programme takes participants through an immersive journey — from harvesting cacao to hand-crafting their own chocolate to building a brand around it — using the process as a living framework for real-world business and marketing fundamentals.
Migo (United States) — Brad Bitler
Article image #square-3
[Migo](migo.app) turns any messaging app number into a bookable business. The world's best local experiences are run by people with a phone and no website. We make them discoverable, translatable, and bookable, without asking them to change a thing.
WhoanHub (Vietnam) — Huân Nguyen
Article image #square-4
[WhoanHub](whoanai.com), a product by WhoanAI, is a "chat-to-task" application for hotel daily operations. It turns scattered staff chats into tracked jobs - each with a clear owner, deadline, and audit trail. Staff claim tasks in a tap, managers watch progress live, and escalations fire automatically. The result: fewer missed tasks and faster, measurable service.
Trasys (Thailand) — Maxim Kurtov
Article image #square-5
[Trasys](trasys.pro) is a digital infrastructure for the Asian tourism industry. Trasys provides a unified platform that connects tour operators, agencies, and service providers, letting them manage availability, calendars, transportation, finances, and all operational processes in real time from a single interface. By uniting market participants into a single ecosystem and providing ready-to-use B2B and B2C sales tools, Trasys makes the Asian travel market more efficient, scalable, and technology-driven.
HonestLee (Vietnam) — Patrick Struckmann
Article image #square-6
[HonestLee](honestlee.app) is a map-first smart city intelligence platform and in-venue operating system across Asia. We help travelers, digital nomads, and locals discover cities around their own preferences, while giving hospitality businesses a direct way to engage them. Real guest interactions, live activity, and location-verified Honest Reviews, governed by our mascot Lee, create authentic, hyper-local intelligence.
Want to be part of the action? Join us at Travel Massive Asia Conference 2026 Da Nang!
Come see these five startups pitch live. [Get your ticket](www.travelmassive.com/events/travel-massive-asia-conference-2026-da-nang-3982452889) and join us in Vietnam (August 21-22) for two days of innovation, ideas, and community connections.
I can't believe the startup competition is almost here!
Congratulations to our five finalists, and a huge thank you to everyone who submitted to our call-out last month — we received more than 40 high-quality applications from around the world, and narrowing it down was no easy task.
We're thrilled to have five exceptional travel startups from four different countries pitching live on stage, and are equally excited to bring together such an outstanding judging panel. This year the finalists will also demo at our Travel Massive Startups booth at HorecFex, so there's even more opportunity to connect with them.
See you in Da Nang! Be sure to drop by the Travel Massive Startups booth to meet our startups and team members if you're attending.
I'm so pumped to see these pitches...what incredible ideas. I look forward to meeting you all in Da Nang :)
Congrats to all five finalists. This is exactly the kind of innovation our Travel Trends Podcast audience wants to hear about. A map first city intelligence platform, chat to task hotel operations, turning a WhatsApp number into a bookable business... the range of problems being solved here says a lot about where travel tech is headed.
We're proud to sponsor this and get these startups in front of our global audience as the #1 B2B travel podcast.
Great work pulling this together Ian. Always good working with you and the Travel Massive team
I can’t wait to watch and learn about these brilliant startups!
Can't wait to see you all in Da Nang!
- WhoanHub -
Looking forward to hosting this amazing group of entrepreneurs!
After fifteen years running ground operations in Kenya, I've had a lot of conversations with travel advisors who are building out their Africa portfolio for the first time. Almost every one of them asks a version of the same question: "How do I know if this DMC is actually good, or just good at marketing?"
It's a fair question, and it's harder to answer than most advisors expect. Here's what I've noticed the best advisors consistently get right, and what actually separates a reliable Kenya ground partner from one that will eventually cost you a client relationship.
#1. Judge Operational Quality, Not a Polished Website
A clean website tells you almost nothing about what happens when a client's flight is delayed three hours and their guide is still waiting at arrivals. Website quality and operational quality are produced by completely different parts of a company — often by different people entirely. The questions that actually matter are things like: who answers the phone at 2am if something goes wrong, and how quickly do they respond? I go into this in more depth in my guide on finding a trusted Kenya DMC, including the specific credentials worth checking before you commit a client's itinerary.
#2. Verify Credentials, Even When Everyone Says They're Licensed
Every operator will tell you they're licensed. Far fewer will hand you a KATO registration number or Kenya Tourism Board accreditation you can actually verify. This isn't a bureaucratic formality, it's the fastest way to confirm you're dealing with a real operation rather than a freelancer with a nice logo. It takes five minutes to check, and it should be step one, not an afterthought after you've already fallen in love with a proposal.
#3. Ask for Advisor References, Not Only Consumer Reviews
Consumer reviews tell you whether a trip went well. They don't tell you whether the operator is easy to work with commercially, how they handle rate changes, how fast they turn around a quote, whether they honor allocations during peak season. Ask specifically for other travel advisors as references, not TripAdvisor links. A DMC that offers these readily is telling you something.
#4. Confirm Vehicle and Guide Standards Early
This is the one that surprises advisors most, because it feels like a small operational detail until a client is stuck in the Mara during the rainy season in a vehicle that wasn't built for it. Guide certification and fleet standards are not cosmetic — they directly determine whether a safari goes smoothly or becomes a liability. Any operator worth partnering with should be able to produce guide certifications and fleet documentation without hesitation; you know what a purpose-built safari vehicle should actually look like, and it's worth using that as a benchmark when you're comparing fleets.
#5. Use a FAM Trip to Build Real Confidence
Advisors who've actually been on the ground in Kenya sell it differently than advisors working purely from a brochure. There's no substitute for standing in the Mara at dawn and understanding what your client is actually paying for. If a DMC will invest in getting you there, that tells you something about how much they're investing in the relationship overall.
#The Underlying Pattern
Almost every point on this list comes down to the same principle: the best advisors evaluate DMCs the way they'd evaluate a business partner, based on process, transparency, and how the operator behaves when something goes wrong, rather than the way they'd evaluate a hotel, based on presentation. The advisors who get this right early build Africa portfolios that compound in value for years. The ones who don't tend to find out the hard way, usually with a client on the ground and no good options left.
*Beyond the Plains Safaris is a locally owned and operated Kenya safari specialist and Destination Management Company, and members of the [Kenya Association of Tour Operators](katokenya.org/kato-members-directory/) (KATO). Learn more at [beyondtheplainssafaris.com](www.beyondtheplainssafaris.com).*
Hello everyone! I'm John Dante, Director and Operations Manager at Beyond the Plains Safaris, a Kenya-based destination management company specializing in tailor-made safaris across Kenya and Tanzania.
This article is adapted from a webinar I recently hosted with Wheelhouse Webinars, where I sat down with travel advisors to talk through how to vet a Kenya ground partner before putting a client's trip in their hands.
Thanks to Katie Anzelmi at Wheelhouse Webinars (wheelhousewebinars.com) for hosting the original session. I wanted to share it here on Travel Massive too.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvf9EF3AsKs
Comment below with any questions you would like to ask or anything you'd add to this list, and feel free to connect with me if you'd like to learn more about our services.
Here's a story about where Travel Massive networking can take you.
A few months ago, Scott and I met Patrick of Oats Marketing at a Travel Massive networking night in Portland. One coffee meeting turned into two hours of conversation, which turned into an invitation to join him on a hike and raft trip down the Wild and Scenic Rogue River with his client, Orange Torpedo Tours.
We went. We hiked. We rafted Blossom Bar. We met guides who have been on this river for fifty years and a family running a lodge so far into the backcountry that a vehicle getting there still feels like a small miracle. We came home with wildflowers, river stories, and a very clear understanding of why the Rogue keeps calling people back.
And then we wrote about it.
Raft or Hike? Choosing My Own Adventure on the Rogue River is now live on our blog Not Your Average American, in English and in Spanish. It's about navigating a multi-day wilderness trip with MS, the guides who made it possible, and the moment at the end that reminded us exactly why intentional travel matters.
Read our full article over at notyouraverageamerican.com/raft-hike-rogue-river-oregon/
This article started at a Travel Massive event in Portland, Oregon. This is what Travel Massive networking is all about, and we're grateful it worked!
amazing
great
Last month, [Dublin Travel Massive](www.travelmassive.com/posts/dublin-travel-massive-311524526) teamed up with Future Travel Experience, Airportr and InflightFlix for a lively [post-conference gathering](www.travelmassive.com/events/summer-in-dublin-with-future-travel-experience-airportr-and-inflightflix-8876773981) at The Odeon on Harcourt Street.
Held during the [APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing show](www.futuretravelexperience.com/fte-ancillary/), the event brought together 150 members of the local travel community and visiting FTE delegates for an evening of conversation, connections and the occasional strong opinion about the future of travel.
The crowd included people working across airlines, airports, travel technology, loyalty, digital retailing, customer experience and innovation. It was a chance to step away from the conference floor, catch up with familiar faces and meet new ones in a more relaxed setting.
A huge thank you to [Airportr](airportr.com/?ref=travelmassive) and [InflightFlix](inflightflix.aero/?ref=travelmassive) for sponsoring the evening, and to [Future Travel Experience](www.futuretravelexperience.com/?ref=travelmassive) for helping us bring the wider industry community together in Dublin.
The event was organised by Dublin co-leaders [Amanda Campbell](www.travelmassive.com/@amanda-campbell) and [Kevin O’Shaughnessy](www.travelmassive.com/@okev).
The bar closed at midnight. We hear a few people may have continued the networking elsewhere. But shhh — you didn’t hear that here.
*Interested in sponsoring a future Melbourne chapter event? Get in touch with Amanda and Kevin, and join [Dublin Travel Massive](www.travelmassive.com/posts/dublin-travel-massive-311524526) to stay in the loop for the next event.*
would love to attend such events in Paris, France
Nepal’s tourism landscape is synonymous with its breathtaking mountains, which will always be a draw for adventurous travellers. What has become apparent is for tourism to truly thrive, and to drive economic growth for rurally-based Nepalis, the focus needs to shift to the diversification of traveller experiences across the Himalayan nation.
#A new government, a new tourism strategy
Following Nepal’s recent 2026 election, the new government is intentionally shifting its tourism strategy away from the type of extractive, "zero-dollar" mass tourism that causes considerable leakage to occur, meaning little benefit to local people. The goal is to spread wealth beyond the well-worn trekking trails, diverting footfall to emerging parts of the country that currently see few travellers.
While this move has been welcomed by our team at [Community Homestay Network](communityhomestay.com) (CHN), the grassroots magic is in fact already happening, with local communities steadily building a blueprint for impactful, experiential travel in lesser-known regions.
Article image #1
*The Aathpahariya community at Khambela, Dhankuta, greets guests on arrival.*
We firmly believe this is a model other destinations can model and adopt.
#Dhankuta: a blueprint hiding in plain sight
At CHN, we have been working with a small hill town called [Dhankuta](maps.app.goo.gl/MEVWdHL6HcWeiHKRA) in the eastern part of the country. This case study exemplifies how growth can be achieved in any destination that has impressive tourism assets, yet still suffers from undertourism.
In Dhankuta, the evening doesn't end with a staged show where the local culture is, quite literally, performative. It instead starts with a walk led by newly trained guide, Sabita Shrestha.
As the sun sets, Sabita leads travellers on an "[Orange Town Heritage Walk](communityhomestay.com/experiences/dhankuta-orange-town-heritage-walk)," where she points out ancestral homes and a spring pond that is helping revive the town's water supply. The tour ends in her backyard where travellers can connect with her over a hot cup of chiya (milk tea).
Sabita, who is from the local Newar community, said she was unsure about guiding at first, but now sees that walking the streets with travellers has made what previously seemed ordinary become more meaningful.
Article image #4
*Sabita Shrestha, a local guide in Orange Town, Dhankuta.*
This is the shift we need to see more of around the world, not just in Nepal. Tourism in Dhankuta isn't built on top-down corporate or governmental planning, but from the ground up based on everyday life and turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.
#Women running the show
Dhankuta has transformed into a thriving destination where Indigenous Aathpahariya and Newar women run the show. They operate home stays, guide travellers, craft textiles, and cook traditional meals, inviting travellers to experience their daily lives via a meaningful two-way exchange.
People often mistakenly reduce the ‘home stay’ concept to being just a place to sleep. In reality, accommodation is one element of a larger ecosystem that is built around organised local participation and training, resulting in community-led ownership and entrepreneurship.
At its heart, tourism is the art of storytelling. By putting the narrative firmly in the hands of the community, we ensure every guest experience is led by those who live the culture.
For travellers, this turns every visit into a profound experience. They walk away with a firsthand connection with the local identity, while the community uncovers a powerful avenue to grow its prosperity and ensure ancestral traditions flourish.
Article image #6
*Travellers enjoy a traditional Nepali Thali meal at the Sipting Community Homestay, hosted by the Indigenous
Aathpahariya community.*
#Measuring what tourism sustains
As an industry, we need to stop measuring success solely by arrival numbers. The real metrics should be what tourism sustains: clean water sources, cultural heritage, women-led livelihoods, and preserved local knowledge. Destinations aren't passive backdrops for vacations; they are living, breathing environments.
At CHN we believe the future of our industry belongs in the hands of communities that are invested and intentional about how they share their lives with the world, and we hope to share our success with other destinations facing the same challenges.
Learn more about our projects at [Community Homestay Network](communityhomestay.com) and we look forward to welcoming you at one of our homestays the next time you visit Nepal.
Hi everyone! My name is Aayusha and I’m the CEO of Community Homestay Network.
We're based in Kathmandu and work with 51 different communities across Nepal to help travellers immerse themselves in our culture and heritage, and empower local people in the process.
Thanks for reading up on our work here, and I’d love to know if you have visited Nepal before. If so, where did you go?
It's an honour to have witnessed Community Homestay Network's positive impact in communities in Nepal from Bhada in the west, to Dhanukuta in the east! The team has developed an incredible model that champions wealth distribution, local entrepreneurship and immersive travel for visitors. I am sure there are other destinations that could also adopt this approach!
so well written, Would love to visit Nepal and learn about their culture and life
This is a great and new evolving way current tourism we too are enumerating here in Kenya astuteafricasafaris.com/ethical-community-led-tourism-in-kenya/
Hi William! Great piece - some lovely examples of community tourism in here. I am due a return to beautiful Kenya!
Hi Casey, Community tourism is the ay to go more so in its impact positively to the local communities. Its really changing lives and future guarantee to conservation and conserving the national heritage/national parks.
Pleased to note you are due to return to Kenya. Why not consider us in helping you plan your stay. Feel free to drop us a line bookings@astuteafricasafaris.com or whatsapp +254762663272
After every trip, I had the same problem: the photos were safe in my phone, but the memory of the trip was scattered across a camera roll, chat threads, and half-finished albums.
So I built Wimemo, a small travel app that turns geotagged photos into a personal travel map. It groups nearby photos into trips, shows the places you have actually visited, and keeps the original media on the device by default. The map gives a photo library a shape that matches how we remember travel: by place, route, and the people who were there.
The interesting part has been the edge cases. A long Europe trip can cross several countries without a clean boundary in the photo timeline. A city label can be wrong even when the coordinates are right. A photo taken at an airport should not quietly become a country you visited. These details matter because a travel map is a memory system, not just a visualization.
I am still improving the product and learning from people who take photos with phones, cameras, drones, and shared albums. I would love feedback from travel creators and travel-tech builders:
Do you remember trips more by place or by date? What is the first thing you want to see when you open an old travel album? How should a travel app combine personal photos with memories from travel companions?
Try it out at wimemo.com and please share your feedback and comments, thanks!
I remember trips by place and what I was doing and who was there with me. I'll give it a try.
That makes sense—place, what happened, and who was there are exactly the context a travel memory should preserve. Thanks for giving Wimemo a try. I’d especially love to hear whether the map or the trip timeline feels more natural when you revisit a journey.
For me it's usually the food memories : ) but congrats to building this app.
Sounds cool, downloading now. One of my favorite things to do is open the map view on Google Photos to see where the cluster of photos are located. Do you have Google Photos integration?
Not yet, will start on it once iOS is in a good state.
Woah, going to try this for my trip tomorrow!
Thanks very much, it is still the early stage, so just feel free to send me any suggestions.
This is awsome!! Do you need a UGC creator to promote this? I can help :D
Yes, that would be awesome.
HERE'S THE NEXT 5 UPCOMING EVENTS:
Hello Toronto Travel Massive community,
Please join us for a casual summer social on the patio. Re-connect with old friends and acquaintances and meet new people from Toronto’s vibrant travel industry scene.
Please make sure your profile is completed and has:
• Your title and a brief bio that clearly describes what you do in the travel industry
• Website and social media links
• Your photo
Your profile is your business card, make it count.
💬 Join the conversation: @travelmassiveTO #TravelMassiveToronto
🎟️ Event registration: there is a maximum capacity, so make sure to register. If there is a waitlist, we would encourage you to still sign-up in case someone is no longer able to come. If there are any cancellations, we will add people from the waitlist. In the meantime, please have a look at your Travel Massive profile and take a moment to make sure it is up to date as that helps us verify attendees.
Always join the waitlist, cancelations happen, capacity can change.
👉 Please note:
* All guests must be registered to attend.
* No +1s please.
* Must be an active member of the travel industry to attend with an approved and updated profile on www.travelmassive.com. Please make sure to describe what your role is in the travel industry and add associated social media and website links.
👉 Cancellations: If you are no longer able to attend, please try to release your ticket 48 hrs (2 days) before the event so others can attend. Thank you for understanding.
🚨As these events are limited capacity, we have a 3-strike no show policy.
📸 This event might be photographed by a member of a Travel Massive team or/and our event partner. If you do not wish to be photographed, please let us know upon arrival.
Land acknowledgment We wish to acknowledge the Ancestral Traditional Territories of the Ojibway, the Anishnabe and, in particular, the Mississauga’s of the New Credit whose territories we gather on. This territory is covered by the Upper Canada Treaties.
Link to event pageWe're excited to be discovering the new 25Hours Hotel The Olympia. Join us for a social and networking evening with Sydney Travel Massive and friends. Expect a warm welcome from our host in The Mulwray, their late-night cocktail and wine bar and a site visit of the hotel.
🏨 Venue: The Mulwray, 25Hours Hotel The Olympia, Paddington
📍Location: 11 Oxford Street, Paddington (maps.app.goo.gl/DmGWwSJ35eivC53cA)
🗓️ Date: Thursday, 20th August 2026
🕕 Time: 6pm onwards
🪩 Dress Code: A little different from our usual, feel free to dress it up, think your stylish friend's living room
🥂 Welcome drink on arrival, charcuterie
🏨 About the venue: 25hours Hotels are quirky and sophisticated, The Olympia blends the charm of its art house theatre roots with modern design. The Mulwray is their late-night venue with low lighting, rich textures, and Sydney's best cocktail and wine selection.
👉 Spaces are limited, RSVP is essential
Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday August 20th
Link to event pageJoin Top Travel Innovators, Creators, and Marketers at Travel Massive Asia Conference 2026, in Da Nang, Vietnam on August 21-22.
Travel Massive Asia Conference 2026 will be hosted across two days in Da Nang (Friday 21st to Saturday 22nd August) with a focus on innovation, creation, and marketing in travel, featuring: expert-led workshops, industry panels, founder interviews, a startup pitch competition, tourism and creator masterclasses, and community activations.
See our full speaker lineup (updated 17 July) for 2026: www.travelmassive.com/posts/join-us-at-travel-massive-asia-conference-2026-updated-790035485
The Conference for Travel Innovation, Creation, and Marketing
Day 1 (Conference) will be hosted on the final day of HorecFex (20-21 August) — the premier technology event for the tourism and hospitality industry in Vietnam which attracts over 4,000 attendees including senior hospitality executives and features 80 exhibition booths from local and international vendors.
Day 2 (Masterclasses) will take place at Namia River Retreat, a five-star villa resort, wellness and meeting space in the historic town of Hoi An — a UNESCO World Heritage Site, featuring small-group tourism and creator masterclasses led by experts from the Travel Massive network, followed by an exclusive after party to celebrate two days of learnings and new connections.
🏝️ The conference will be hosted at the Ariyana Convention Centre, a 5-star conference facility built for the 25th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, located in the centre of the beachfront Ariyana Danang Tourism Complex.
🇻🇳 Da Nang is the largest city in Central Vietnam and a regional hub for Vietnam's fast growing tourism market, which welcomed a record 21+ million international tourists in 2025 and is the 3rd largest travel destination in South East Asia. Vietnam's top inbound source markets include the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, India, and Russia.
👉 This is an exclusive event for: travel industry professionals, tourism operators, travel startups, verified travel creators, influencers and KOLs, and relevant industry experts and media.
🤩 This is your opportunity to learn from and meet with like-minded professionals and founders from across the tourism, hospitality, and online travel sectors in South East Asia and beyond. We look forward to welcoming you!
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Tickets and Registration
General Admission Tickets to Travel Massive Asia Conference 2026 Da Nang (21-22 August) are now available to purchase and includes entry to HorecFex Hospitality Exhibition and Forum (20-21 August). Some restrictions apply:
• Morning workshops on Day 1 are limited to 100 seats.
• Masterclasses on Day 2 are subject to group capacity and availability.
To secure your spot at Travel Massive Asia Conference 2026 Da Nang:
✅ Sign in to your Travel Massive profile, or create an account (it's free)
✅ Purchase a ticket using the "Buy Ticket" link on this event page
✅ Book your flights and accommodation to attend (see FAQ for tips)
Tickets are non-transferrable. You can get a full refund 30 days prior to the event.
FAQ: Where to stay / how to get there:
• Day 1 will be hosted at the Ariyana Convention Centre in Da Nang, Vietnam.
• Day 2 will be hosted in Hoi An town at Namia River Retreat.
• The official hotel is Furama Resort (a 10 minute walk to the convention centre).
• There are many hotel options nearby the convention centre and in Da Nang city.
• Fly direct to Da Nang International Airport (DAD) from international hubs including Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo, or transit via Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) or Hanoi.
• Bus and train from HCMC (Saigon) to Da Nang (allow a full day, at least).
• Get an Electronic Visa for Vietnam at evisa.gov.vn (for US and other citizens)
• We recommend to extend your stay to explore nearby sights and Central Vietnam!
Questions or need advice? Contact us at asia@travelmassive.com
Check out highlights from our 2025 conference: www.travelmassive.com/posts/photos-from-travel-massive-asia-conference-2025-in-da-nang-vietnam-401401759
Link to event pageTIS2026: The New Generation of Travel & Hotel Tech
Get ready to reimagine the tourism industry with the most cutting-edge technology showcased at TIS2026!
In an increasingly connected and innovative world, the tourism sector is transforming. The fusion between the travel industry and technology is opening up a world of endless possibilities. From trip planning to destination experiences, every aspect of the traveler’s journey is being reinvented thanks to technological advances. From intuitive mobile applications to augmented reality systems, innovation is elevating the way we explore the world. In this exciting journey towards the future, TIS 2026 stands as the epicenter of change.
Join us from October 6th to 8th 2026, as we explore the latest trends and technological solutions that are transforming the travel industry. This year Tourism Innovation Summit 2026 offers you a unique opportunity to showcase your latest and greatest advancements to +8,000 Tourism professionals.
Learn more at www.tisglobalsummit.com
Link to event pageThe heartbeat of the global business events industry.
IMEX America is the largest trade show for the global meetings, events and incentive travel industry.
Our award-winning show brings the meetings industry together to do a year’s worth of business under one roof. Suppliers and buyers from every sector of the meetings industry come together at IMEX, held at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas.
Our free-to-attend four-day program offers specialist education, networking and much more, on and off the trade show floor.
Talking Point: Design Matters
In 2026–2027, we’re making Design Matters our Talking Point. Because good design isn’t just good business—it’s how things work, feel and change us.
Design is the ultimate differentiator. It’s design that helps organizations, brands and events stand out and be remembered. So, we’re inviting the global events industry to embrace design as a business superpower. Because it matters.
Where is IMEX America held?
Welcome to Las Vegas! IMEX takes place at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mandalay Bay is the fifth largest convention center in the US, with 2.1 million square feet of meeting and exhibit space. Just a short car ride from the airport, Mandalay Bay is located on the dazzling Las Vegas Strip.
Learn more at america.imexevents.com
Link to event pageAsia's largest travel trade show
ITB Asia, Asia’s Largest Travel Trade Show, is an annual 3-day B2B trade show and convention designed to bring together the key travel industry leaders in the region. It convenes international exhibitors and buyers from the MICE, Leisure and Corporate segments.
Today, ITB Asia is the premier meeting place for the travel trade industry for forging new partnerships and strengthening existing business relationships with the most important players in the region.
ITB Asia 2026 will be held in Sands Expo & Convention Centre in Singapore from 21-23 October 2026. The show is organised by Messe Berlin Asia Pacific.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovXgWileF7k
Why Attend ITB Asia
Asia’s Largest Travel Trade Show
Bringing more than 18,000 attendees from the MICE, Corporate, Leisure sectors
Buyer & Exhibitor Ratio
Approximately 1:1 ratio between buyers and exhibitors
Most International Travel Trade Show
Over 132 countries & territories represented; the most international travel trade show in the region
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ITB Asia?
ITB Asia, Asia’s Largest Travel Trade Show, is an annual 3-day B2B trade show and convention designed to bring together the key travel industry leaders in the region. It convenes international exhibitors and buyers from the MICE, Leisure and Corporate segments.
Today, ITB Asia is the premier meeting place for the travel trade industry for forging new partnerships and strengthening existing business relationships with the most important players in the region.
Where is ITB Asia held?
ITB Asia 2026 will be held in Sands Expo & Convention Centre in Singapore from 21-23 October 2026. The show is organised by Messe Berlin Asia Pacific.
Who should attend ITB Asia?
ITB Asia is a B2B travel trade event for industry professionals, including buyers (corporate travel managers, MICE planners, agents), exhibitors (tourism boards, hotels, airlines, travel tech providers), and trade visitors seeking to network, source products, and explore business opportunities across leisure, MICE, corporate travel, and travel technology.
What industries are represented at ITB Asia?
ITB Asia represents key sectors across the travel and tourism industry, including leisure travel, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions), corporate travel, and travel technology, alongside related industries such as hospitality, aviation, cruise, destinations, attractions, and tourism boards.
Learn more at www.itb-asia.com
Link to event pageHere's the 10 latest classified ads:
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